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Hi, I wanted to talk about the 'me fan experience in the west in this, the year of the monkey 2016 Me and my good buddy srice actually started hangin' in the penny arcade forums circa 2005, back when forums were not dead and gay, they were alive and well. There were a few anime threads, they all had torrenting links everywhere, they were barely moderated, over time they grew into strange creatures, and then they were banned, starting a very long process that eventually culminated in the complete banning of anime discussion a few months ago. I don't give much of a hoot about PA these days, but it's odd that the forums attached to one of the biggest nerd geek whatever sites around has completely banned discussion of one of the most popular and rising 'nerd' interests out there. I was chatting with an old friend today about it today and he mentioned he thought the ban was good. Anime fans aren't moddable. They'll always post the 10,000 year old vampire in the body of a child titty or be creepy in one of the zillion other ways base 'me fans are able to be. In the same vein I'm sure no one needs to be reminded that zorak's reign had a pretty drastic cooling effect on what people felt comfortable talking about, or even what was allowed to be talked about. The culture of the subforum to this day, such that it exists, is still largely defined as a reaction to that era, and the general dislike of anime shared across most of the boards. Anime fans in general seem defined by their reactions to outside forces. It's odd. Especially in an era where anime and manga are still on the rise. attack on titan sells like gangbusters, compared to any other graphic novel or comic on the market. more and more influential western shows and film are influenced by anime. hell, Yuasa directed a freaking episode of Adventure Time. culturally, we're working more closely together and trading ideas much, much faster than in the past. and love it or hate it, crunchyroll and other streaming services have made it easier than ever to watch subbed shows online, no fiddling with torrents or low quality pirate stream sites. youth that grew up on toonami and the like are also getting older, entering the creative workforce with those influences, and making a bigger impact on sales with their increased budgets. so why does it feel like nothing has really changed in the past few years? by and large people that watch anime are considered perverted until proven innocent. anime clubs still have a fairly well deserved reputation of being full of cringingly awkward enthusiasts. otherwise sane and likable people think that any time people get together online to talk about 'me with their friends, it will inevitably descend into a freakshow. i'm not trying to imply that i feel crucified or in any tangible way, but i do think it's annoying, and i believe it's worth talking about why it still seems firmly entrenched in the pop culture ghetto. there's also the reality that the animation and manga industry does in actuality release a number of pretty hosed up things. looking at you, valkyrie drive. that's essentially this season, but there's one or two almost every year. the whole ironic 'nuke it again' sentiment is horrifyingly obnoxious and offensive, but it's fueled by regular social concerns and mores, and i don't believe you can argue in good faith that we produce material of the same quality and professionalism here. not to say we are better, just that the realities of anime production have created a market where extremely niche products can thrive, for now. so, that's the general state of things as i see it, but i'd be interested in getting some new perspectives, from people younger or older than me, ones that hang out in different social groups, different countries, whatever. what's your take on being an anime fan these days? do you mostly keep it to yourself ~I R L~? how do you reconcile the stuff you like with the creepy stuff you don't, or do you not feel the need to? what if you were explaining it to a friend? what do you think the freaking normie tier average person thinks about anime these days? is the idea of genre respectability actually worth considering? do you make it a point to cherish your "sane anime friends"? that is probably enough questions for now. i'd like this to be an opportunity to just have a general chat about anime perceptions and how consumers of anime see it these days. my only requests as OP: if you're all like 'well, actually, i don't define myself by my interests' i'm going to be very sad at you for thinking that's an insightful thing to say in this thread, please don't do that to me also don't be all 'well it's dumb to walk up to someone and say hi i'm like anime, how are you? i like anime, by the way. anime?' that would be dumb and it's not what i'd like to see! (i realize i will most likely be trolled with these...but guess what? i foresaw that too) do not make the thread a referendum on the current mod's term and that's it! pplease feel free to share your feels, if you're so inclined...and thank you as always for being my friends 
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Feb 8, 2016 10:20
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 22:57 |
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Endorph posted:valkyrie drive is way less offensive to me than the western comics where a terrorist plants a bomb in a woman's womb or whatever and people can post about that on the lauded penny arcade forums all they want actually, that was ground zeroes, and it wasn't just any terrorist: skullface was the villain responsible
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Feb 8, 2016 14:16
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Endorph posted:didnt it happen in a frank miller comic too? mark millar, who is actually a real nihilistic piece of poo poo; an impressive distinction in a field of pretty subpar writers. he also did kick rear end and wanted. the movies were toned way down if ya can believe it. but I agree with you, comics get a pass for a lot of the stupid poo poo they pull in nerd circles. but if your point is that the level of dysfunction is about the same I'd really have to disagree, at least for these days. maybe we can agree both have a lot of machinery constructed to churn out some questionable stuff.
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Feb 8, 2016 14:35
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TheLovablePlutonis posted:Anime backlash is only a gay rear end gringo thing, where I live there's a billion dweebs walking with death note shirts and they fill the giant convention centers where they hold anime cons. Latinos win again. the latino game is amazingly powerful..what's more, they're in a great position to grow stronger yet in the years ahead i suspect the whole american preoccupation with hyper focusing on the kinkier poo poo Japan does is based at least in part on orientalism. how do people react to that stuff where you are? do you just laugh it off like we do here? or does it just not come up unless someone actually likes it.
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Feb 8, 2016 14:51
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Mentat Radnor posted:Back in late October I was at a Halloween party with a bunch of people I had never met and I made some sort of offhand reference to One-Punch Man. Immediately, about four people called me on it and launched into a hearty discussion about the show's merits and how it compares to the manga. thanks to bebop,'ghost in the shell, trigun, ttgl, jojo, random miyazaki film, and one punch man for saving anime's reputation with the normies
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Feb 8, 2016 15:43
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DrSunshine posted:Thing is, though, it's always going to be on the sidelines. Even in Japan, the place where this kind of stuff originates, if you talk to the average person on the street - "Do you know about anime?" - they'll reply either "Oh, like Doraemon or Pokemon? I used to watch that when I was little!" or "It's something for otaku/freaks/perverts". I'm sure there's all sorts of sociological, cultural, and historical reasons for why this is, but just offhandedly, I would suspect that it's because by and large there's two types of anime out there: 1) Childrens' cartoons and 2) shows for perverts. Shows that fall in between those are few and far between. I have it on good authority that every animator in the entire world is basically a hosed up pervo with an insanely twisted take on reality. that's not really what sets them apart. what you're missing here is you're needlessly separating commercial works with the pervy stuff. the perv stuff is some of the most cynically commercial stuff out there. it's created for a niche audience because most companies believe only niche audiences are interested in paying for anime. Not to mention the insane pricing scheme they've had for decades. and honestly I'd even question the idea that most Japanese people, at least the ones our age, don't have a firmer understanding of anime. it's nearly ubiquitous in American pop culture if you're looking, in our information saturated age, especially one as network driven as Japan, it just doesn't make sense if their equivalents of X and millennialist are as agnostic as you imply. you are right though, in that niche markets create very specific and largely impenetrable products. I hate to keep diving back to comic books but they had and largely still have the same problem of finding new markets to tap when their instinct is to just create stuff that appeals to their aging core fan group. luckily for anime it's proven to have a strong global appeal with emerging markets in several countries, and Japan is getting better about facing outwardly with the industry every year. the kinds of shows that pick up in new markets arent the kinky ones or even the moe slice of life series if that gets your goat. it's stuff like OPM, sci fi shows, fantasy, etc. if it keeps trending like this, 'me shows will only become more broadly appealing. at least as appealing as all the other lauded normie tier shows.
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Feb 8, 2016 15:59
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Endorph posted:quote this post in order to gather all our energy, to dismiss those complaints i want to find a third way, where you acknowledge the bad without turning into zorak it's like the neutral path, in hit video game smt iv. it might be difficult, and lonely, but with isabae I know I can press on
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Feb 8, 2016 18:11
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sorry flaps but I am an enemy of bad faith and false equivocation. im going to have to cast a spell on u
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Feb 8, 2016 18:23
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 22:57 |
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Endorph posted:idk dude, why do we need to acknowledge the bad? some anime is weird sex poo poo. it doesn't really bother anyone because if you don't want weird sex in your anime there is plenty of anime without it, and most anime are pretty upfront about their weird sex poo poo. some anime is sexist, but i don't think 'has boobs' and 'is sexist' are the same thing, and some random mecha show having a really hosed up portrayal of women doesn't reflect on anything but that one show. I'm going to be dealing with Lundi gras stuff for a while so I can't address all these fine points at the moment...just wanted 2 say I gave my power willingly....in the future, maybe there will be a great need in the meantime I hope everything is going nice and it's been a good chat okay love you thread, bye!!
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Feb 8, 2016 20:07
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